I closed yesterday's post stating:
"This isn't the kind of spot where it would be sensible to climb bleary-eyed off the truck to answer a middle-of-the-night call of nature."
At 2.20am Emma did this very thing and immediately heard a large animal crashing through the undergrowth accompanied by some agitated breathing and grunting. Naturally, she instantly became rather less bleary-eyed and beat a hasty retreat.
I'd like to say she won't be doing that again...
The overnight trail cam didn't record any boar, but did pick up a fox.
Come morning proper I decided to stir my stumps and went for a short run. In truth, had Emma-the-Indefatigable ever deigned to have a day off training, I'd probably not have felt the requisite pang of motivational guilt, and instead just eaten even more breakfast / watched wildlife. As it turned out the run wasn't so bad and on my return spotted a few red-backed shrike. Proof if proof were needed that one or more of the several thousand deities vying for attention is / are indeed omnipotent.
A bit more traversing Germany followed and as we moved east the shift to the territory of the old GDR was subtly palpable. We perceived less ostentatious affluence, rather less sophisticated infrastructure, and also spotted such anachronisms as mining operations that still employed pit heads (complete with working winding houses) and giant spoil heaps. The whole thing was altogether more than a little redolent of last-century Yorkshire.
To be honest, we both quite like the current ambiance. There's something very honest and rather less materialistic about it.
Lunch was a very chilled and elongated affair near a quiet sports pitch overlooked by what is apparently one of the most visited attractions in Germany.
We didn't add to the numbers, but did unexpectedly spot some serins jingling and jangling in some nearby plum trees. I wasn't allowed to forage for underripe plums.
Post lunch, we only bumbled for about another hour-and-a-half or so before arriving at a spot I'd identified as a possible overnighting spot from map features: and here we now are (coordinates and pic). We're planning an assault on the Ziegelwiese parkrun in the town of Halle first thing in the morning, so this spot should give us reasonably ready a access. It's actually turned out to be better than hoped with outstanding vistas and the joy of hundreds of bee eaters calling and foraging in every direction as far as the eye can see. The truly exotic colours and calls of these birds just doesn't get old.